Young safeties find competition increasing

Safeties Robert Johnson and Nick Schommer find themselves in difficult positions as the Titans near the halfway mark of training camp. Both need to be on the field to compete with recently acquired veteran safeties Jordan Babineaux and Anthony Smith, but both are trying to overcome nagging hamstring injuries.

Johnson, a fifth-round pick last season, said he expects to be back practicing either today or Thursday. He also hopes to play in Saturday’s preseason opener against Minnesota.

“I feel like I gotta get out there,” Johnson said. “But the thing is, I don’t want to rush back and then hurt myself when I’m going good with the playbook, a whole lot better than I was last year. All I need to do now is make plays. My first day here, I got an interception because I knew where I was supposed to be.

“So I’m not going to sit back and let things happen, but I’m going to just play when I can and if it means I get two plays (on Saturday), I just have to make the most of two plays.”

Coach Mike Munchak said the NFL’s decision to expand training-camp rosters to 90 players has allowed the Titans to bolster the safety spot: “In the past you couldn’t do some of these things (like adding Babineaux and Smith), so I think we are taking full advantage of it. Having a couple guys nicked, Johnson and Schommer, we wanted to see this week and it’s unfortunate that they have missed so much time. We can’t sit back and see what’s going to happen, and we are being proactive I think in that way by bringing guys in.”